200,000 still lack power from snowstorm

Posted: March 1, 2010

PORTLAND, Maine - More than 200,000 homes and businesses were still without power yesterday as restoration efforts continued, days after a slow-moving storm battered the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds.

Nearly 100,000 utility customers still lacked electricity in New Hampshire, the hardest-hit state. New York reported about 96,000 outages and Maine 33,000.

At the peak of the storm, more than a million utility customers throughout the region had lost power.

Hundreds of utility crews from as far away as Michigan and Maryland continued removing trees that knocked down power lines and replacing utility poles that snapped during last week's storm.

Dozens of shelters provided warmth and food at fire departments, schools and other places.

Even after spending three nights at a shelter in New Paltz, N.Y., Keith Crum, 28, of Marlboro, N.Y., said he was understanding of the ongoing power outage. He recently moved back to the area from South Carolina, where he worked cutting trees away from power lines.

"They're trying to do the best they can with the power," he said. In southern New York, the weather was linked to a death in Warwick, where a 60-year-old man was found dead after he went outside to shovel snow on Friday, said Walter Koury, the Orange County emergency services commissioner.

Governors in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts visited storm-struck areas yesterday to meet with emergency responders and view storm damage. Officials said it could be several days before power is fully restored in New Hampshire, while Maine's largest utility hoped to restore power to all of its customers by the end of today.

Another storm, this one from the east, was expected to bring more snow and rain into parts of New England last night and this morning.